JOAQUÍN MIR TRINXET (Barcelona, 1873 - 1940)."Tapia y callejuela a las afueras de Vilanova", 1936-

JOAQUÍN MIR TRINXET (Barcelona, 1873 - 1940).
"Tapia y callejuela a las afueras de Vilanova", 1936-1939.
Oil on cardboard.
Unsigned.
Attached certificate issued in 2020 by Joan Campamà Tubau, graduate in Fine Arts San Jordi and Doctorate in Humanities from the International University of Catalonia with the thesis "Joaquin Mir. Colour and landscape painting".
Size: 22 x 18 cm; 45 x 40,5 cm (frame).
In this work Mir demonstrates his absolute mastery of the technique and the capturing of the landscape, in an image in which he manages to synthesise the naturalistic representation, the personal expression and the pictorial order. It corresponds to the period when he lived in Vilanova i la Geltrú. The frame is located on the outskirts of Vilanova, near the painter's house, in one of the narrow streets leading to the orchards (sinies) that surrounded Vilanova. The mountains that can be seen in the distance correspond to the profile of the "Puig de l'Aliga i les Costes", adjacent to the Atalaya mountain range of the coastal-littoral chain. We see a sensitive brushstroke, which explores the space and gives it form and entity, creating volumes, lights and shadows, defining an atmosphere captured with great sensitivity. Through a purely personal language, Mir synthesises the basic elements of representation and expressiveness of painting, as can be seen in the intensity of his colours and the rigour of his compositional structure.
Joaquín Mir studied at the San Jordi School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and in the studio of the painter Luis Graner. His style was also influenced by the School of Olot, his father's home town. In 1893 he formed the "Colla del Safrà" together with artists such as Isidro Nonell, Ricard Canals and Ramon Pichot, and in the last years of the century he was associated with the artistic environment of "Els Quatre Gats". He completed his training in 1895, when he spent some time in Madrid copying works by Velázquez. During these years he took part in the Fine Arts Exhibitions in Barcelona in 1894, 1896 and 1898. Winner of a second medal at the Madrid Exhibition of 1899, that same year he moved to the capital with the aim of applying for a scholarship in Rome. When he was unsuccessful, he went with Santiago Rusiñol to Mallorca, a trip that was to be a definitive turning point in his career. Mir was dazzled by the Mallorcan landscape, particularly that of Sa Calobra, which was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him. In 1901 he held a solo exhibition of the fruit of this first Mallorcan period at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and once again won a second medal at the National Exhibition. After a period of illness that forced him to move to Reus, in 1907 he won the first medal at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona. Already established as a leading figure on the Catalan scene, he gained definitive national recognition in 1917, when he was awarded the National Prize for Fine Arts. Four years later he married and settled permanently in Vilanova i la Geltrú. His successes followed one after the other, and in 1929 he won the first medal at the International Exhibition in Barcelona. The following year he won the medal of honour at the National Exhibition in Madrid, a prize he had been after since 1922. Although he was mainly a native painter, he held solo and group exhibitions in Washington, Paris, Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and Venice. Mir is today considered the foremost representative of Spanish Post-Impressionist landscape painting. His work can be found in the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, the Museo del Prado, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, among many others.